Anti-materiel projectiles are designed to detonate upon impact with a target. This gives the projectile a greater destructive force when it hits buildings, bridges, tanks and other hard-to-penetrate objects. In accomplishing this, an impact actuated switch closes an electrically charged circuit upon impact to electrically energize and actuate the detonator.
A problem has arisen in that detonation sometimes occurs prematurely when the projectile is still in flight. When this occurs, the projectile self-destructs before hitting the target and the target is neither hit nor destroyed. Previous attempts to overcome this problem involved desensitizing the piezoid by shock isolation techniques, piezoid redesign, and additional stabilization provided by enlarging the projectile fins to reduce vibration.